Safe
by ThatisneverThat
Summary: Where is she? What's going on? When her worst fears are realised, how can Clara escape?


It was dark, damp and cold. The slight amount of light that was coming in was minimal and hurt her eyes, but she couldn't stop walking. They were behind her, but she couldn't look round. Their footsteps were heavy like that thud you dread in the night and they were close enough to stop her from turning but not close enough for her to feel their breath on her neck. Her arms were bare, she didn't have a coat on when they got her and there was nothing around she could put over them. Not that long ago there would have been a coat over her shoulders the moment she even considered being cold but now-

There was no stopping and this corridor felt never ending. Even having gone 2 floors up it felt like she'd walked far longer than it likely had been. Nobody spoke, it was just the mere presence that kept her moving. The silence was allowing her thoughts to run away with her - things she had been trying to hide from for months, memories she simply didn't want to remember. She tried to distract herself, trying to work out how many of them were behind her. They were walking in time, that made it difficult to count footsteps, but there were definitely at least 3. Well, maybe. One had heavier footsteps, pounding just slightly earlier than the others and causing a small vibration on the floor. The others were difficult to distinguish.

Unfortunately there was only so far she could go on this thought train and suddenly she was distracted when she realised the corridor was coming to an end. "Where are we going?" There was no answer, "please someone just tell me-"

They stopped.

 _Room 101._

She gave up trying to speak to them, but the door itself scared her. She was an English teacher, she knew what room 101 was. But Room 101 wasn't real, it wasn't- actually, she couldn't argue about reality not anymore, not after the things she'd seen… this though? How was this a real thing? What was going to happen now?

The door opened slowly and equally as quietly as the building they were in. From outside there was nothing, it looked empty. Nobody moved for a moment, the air around them became still. She couldn't move forward, but the only way was back and they were behind her. Her brain was going crazy - what would the Doctor do?. Probably escape, but how? There was nowhere to go in front of her or to either side - back was her only option, but back was unknown. She knew how to fight, but she had no weapons and no idea what they might have. No sonic to use, nothing to throw, simply her own weight and knowledge. It was a risk, but did she have another choice? What was there to lose now anyway? She was alone in every sense of the word, this was a do or die situation and frankly neither outcome seemed appealing. There was no plan in what she was about to do, and this could quite reasonably be her last moments, so she took a deep breath, turned around and

 **Darkness**

* * *

When she opened her eyes there was still darkness. She could sort of remember being pushed into the room, but not by what. There was nothing there when she turned around, no people behind her, but she hadn't heard them go. Were they ever there?

Scrambling to her feet she ran to the door, but the door wasn't there. It disappeared in front of her eyes. She whacked her hands against the wall but to no avail, screaming out in frustration. The moment she did so lights came up on the walls, just enough to light the writing on the wall. It was red, dripping, it was-

Immediately she jumped back and turned around slowly. All 4 walls were covered in these huge phrases.

 _It's all your fault_

You killed me

 _I always hated you_

Why did you not leave me alone?

 _I'm stuck here forever now._

She fell to the floor, scrambling back but she couldn't get away from it. Slowly the voice came in too, his voice, reading the words from the wall.

A screen lit up, a projector that wasn't there before, it started showing the happy memories - the early days when everything was under control.

" _Remember this?"_

" _Remember?"_

" _Think what could have been…"_

Suddenly the images changed, pictures that never were. Weddings, children, running in the park with the dogs they never owned. Everything she had pictured in her mind when they were together, all they'd talked about.

She tried to scream, but no noise came out. Tears were falling, if she turned around then the screen followed her. It was everywhere, the original voice was still speaking.

" _But it didn't, because look what you did!"_

The video changed again and there it was. The moment he died - on repeat. Split screened to show both moments, the moment he died and the moment she killed him.

" _Are you happy with yourself? Ruining lives?"_

" _Everything you hurt gets ruined, everything you touch, everyone you love. Why did you pick me? You could have spared me, you could have saved our students from the pain."_

The words stung and the words were everywhere. She buried herself in her arms and legs but it simply got louder, it wasn't going away.

" _You cause death. Look at everything you've done?"_

She kept hiding.

" _LOOK!"_

The voice boomed in her ears, almost breaking through the barrier she was trying to create with her arms. Instinctively she looked up, having to watch it again and again. Each time that car hit, each time she killed him it was like a stabbing in her chest. "Please stop, please stop this whoever you are!" But it didn't stop instead his voice started repeating the words from the walls over and over again.

This was her worst fear, this was her first nightmare. This was her room 101. The worst thing that can ever happen to a person - being responsible for the death of the person you love. It had been eating away at her for so long and now it was in front of her and she didn't know if it would ever go away.

Noises continued to get louder, the images were everywhere, it was like torture - it probably was torture. That was what all this was about. Someone was torturing her, it wasn't him it couldn't be. He was dead, he was gone and that was all her fault. Everything it was saying; all those words, all the pictures - it was right. She had caused all this, she had made those decisions, she had ultimately ended his life. He was the person who kept her safe, he kept her sane. All this was the truth that she deserved to hear but it was too much to bare.

It wouldn't stop, it wouldn't go away and had to get out. Curling up wasn't working so she got herself up and started running around looking for a way out. The room started playing with her - creating doors and shutting them as soon as she reached it. The doors would be replaced with new words. These were different these were memories, these were words they had shared, these were-

" **Clara!"**

Everything stopped. The room went dark again and her thought process ended. He had said her name, that familiar voice which was almost comforting despite the booming nature he had used.

" _Come with me Clara, come with me."_

And there he was. Loud and clear, fully human, just as she remembered him with that smile and the glint in her eye whenever he saw her. She couldn't look away as he walked over to her.

"No, it's not you, it can't be. This is all a trick or a joke or something, I don't know," Clara stood up and started walking backwards away from her.

" _How can you say that? You let me die and now you won't even come to me? Oh my dear Clara you deserve to live in this hell with me."_

His voice still echoed around the room and he started walking towards her. "Please I know you don't mean that, you - Danny - he wouldn't do this!"

" _A man can change."_

Suddenly, as if the wall had moved, she had nowhere to go. She ran to the side to try and get away.

" _Stop running from me Clara."_

He moved fast, or the room got smaller, she didn't know which. Finally he had her cornered, there was nowhere to go. Danny - no, the image, the person pretending to be him, it moved forward to her, arms out to take her. Clara stepped right into the corner, holding her arms around her, crying out but to no avail. The words came back on the walls, the images were burned into her eyes.

The noises

 _The words_

The sounds

 _The images_

" **NO!"**

* * *

"I've got you, it's alright I've got you."

The voice was relaxing, she could feel herself in his arms. The noise had stopped, but she couldn't open her eyes incase it was another trick.

"You're safe, I know you're awake Clara I'm not stupid."

That was more like it. Slowly she opened her eyes, looking around at the familiar environment, immediately feeling a lot calmer.

"Why did you lie to me?"

She was still crying, the tears wouldn't stop as she left his grasp and moved away. "Was it really him?"

"I-"

He looked hesitant, but she wasn't giving up. "Was it really Danny?!"

"I don't know. We'll never know."

Now she stood up, storming back over, "you have to know! How did you know I was there?"

"I knew you were in trouble, it took a while to find you they made that difficult. I don't know what that was."

Clara walked away again, pacing a small space of the room. "That was everything I've beaten myself up about, that was my worst fear, that was my dead boyfriend assuring me that it was all my fault!"

"It wasn't him."

She stopped, "you just said you didn't know!"

"Well- no. I don't know, but it didn't sound like him. Less… soldiery and more monster-y."

Clara screamed, kicking the side. "I can't do this."

"Yes you can, because you're Clara Oswald and you can fight aliens and scary robots so you can _definitely_ do this."

Sitting down, her head met her hands. "That's not how this works. _This_ isn't the same."

"Except we both know that was some kind of torture, someone playing with you. Why did you lie to me Clara?"

It took a second but she looked up, "why did you lie to me?"

"I wanted you to be happy."

She shrugged, "right back at you."

"You're not happy now. You keep doing that crying thing."

No response.

"I um, I could try and help," he sat on the chair beside her and very slowly put his arms properly around her.

In the corner of her eyes she could see his face and she started to feel calmer. "That helps. Thank you."

"So, um, will you come back?"

"I never truly left Doctor."

"Good. I'll keep you **safe**."


End file.
